The Spectator arts
Sir: To respond to Evan Anthony's art review (Spectator, August 21). He begins with a preface in which he declares that he is "a compulsively gregarious reviewer" who wants "to talk to artists." This, he goes on to tell us, discloses "the difference between the artist's theories about his work and the actual work itself." Perhaps Mr Anthony will explain what "the. actual work itself" means. Anyone who reads art reportage (criticism is too high praise for most British art reviewers) must have come upon this phrase as often as blinking. Its a hoary old cliche.
Haven't you heard about the Law of Relativity, Mr Anthony? Applied in very simple terms, appropriately, it means that there isn't anything which is absolute; nothing which is in "itself." In this particular context it means that an object cannot exist without an observer, and an art work without an initiated viewer (Mr Anthony goes on to remark that the objects in question were "not enough to involve me or other uninitiated viewers.") Since Mr Anthony is a "compulsively gregarious reviewer" then this is an integral part of his art experience. I refute that he is "uninitiated ": when I met him he was, if anything, over-initiated. This leads me to the unavoidable conclusion that the separation Mr Anthony makes between "the work itself" and "the artist's theories" is nothing but a verbal trick he plays on his experience.
If you continue in this cleaved manner Mr Anthony, I suggest you get your personal pronoun correct — not I but We. Just think of the prestige your present column would have accrued just by starting " We are a compulsively gregarious reviewer." In the same preface Mr Anthony describes the gallery situation as one where the artist and critic pretend they don't know when they encounter each other — "(Actually you've known this all along but to avoid salf consciousness it must look like a surprise.)" Honestly Mr Anthony I'm really sorry I didn't recognise you, honestly. Gareth Jones Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London SW7 Sir: Will Waspe's Whispers (August 14) on the London theatre programmes situation serve to remind one that -theatres in New York provide an excellent free programme with useful background information and well printed. I've always found the wretched affair sold in London theatres a source of irritation. Presumably the people responsible for it also employ those harpies peddling stale chocolates and lukewarm coffee to the audience. In New York these monsters are at least kept at the back of the
auditorium. Incidentally while theatres in New York can equal those of London in their share of horrors and audience discomfort, at least a few new ones have been built of late by people who have some sense of public relations. Perhaps there are a few in London, too, but if so I have yet to discover them.
John Gibbon 3470 Stanley, Apt. 304, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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